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The Canal, Ostend

Impression: Hunterian Art Gallery
Hunterian Art Gallery
(46977)
Number: 352
Date: 1887
Medium: etching
Size: 67 x 179 mm
Signed: butterfly at lower left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 4
Catalogues: K.353; M.350; W.248
Impressions taken from this plate  (4)

TECHNIQUE

The plate for The Canal, Ostend, was executed in pure etching.

PRINTING

Two lifetime impressions of The Canal, Ostend have been located. Both are printed in black ink on ivory laid paper, one with a partial Arms of Amsterdam watermark (Graphic with a link to impression #K3530103) and one marked with a small 'o' in pencil on the verso, possibly as a mark of approval by Whistler (Graphic with a link to impression #K3530105). Both are trimmed to the platemark, one having a tab whereon Whistler signed his butterfly and 'imp.' to show that he had printed it (Graphic with a link to impression #K3530105). The other, having no tab, is signed and inscribed 'The Canal - Ostende / 1st State' on the verso (Graphic with a link to impression #K3530103).
Nathaniel Sparks (1880-1956) noted printing 'Three proofs ... paper from book', that is, on paper originally owned by Whistler, at the request of Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) in 1931. 11 One was printed in warm black ink on ivory laid paper (Graphic with a link to impression #K3530102) and another, similar, with 'IH' countermark (Graphic with a link to impression #K3530104). Both are signed 'Nathaniel Sparks. / Imp.' on the verso, and are not trimmed to the platemark, and so are easy to distinguish from Whistler's proofs.

11: 18 June 1931, published in Martin Hopkinson, 'Nathaniel Sparks's Printing of Whistler's Etchings', Print Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 340, 343, 349.